Sunday, July 26, 2015

A 28-year-old man was shot Thursday night on Fassnacht Avenue after a confrontation that, according to several witnesses, started after the man displayed a Confederate flag and used racial slurs outside a neighborhood convenience store.

Capt. Phil Trent, a South Bend police spokesman, said the gunfire stemmed from a "verbal confrontation" between the 28-year-old man and a group that included three young men, but investigators Friday had only just begun to sort through evidence and witness accounts.

Police first responded about 6:30 p.m. Thursday to the 1400 block of Fassnacht Avenue after dispatchers received an alert from ShotSpotter gunfire sensors. When officers arrived, they found the 28-year-old man near Fassnacht and Birdsell Street, bloodied from his wounds but conscious and standing.

The man told police he was in his white Ford Explorer when he got into the dispute with the three young men, who were on foot. At one point, one of the young men drew a pistol and fired several shots at the Explorer, hitting the 28-year-old man in the upper back and one cheek, Trent said.

Jessie Chembers, a longtime worker at the J & J convenience store on Fassnacht, said he witnessed the incident.

Chembers said the 28-year-old man, who is white, was driving west on Fassnacht when he stopped his vehicle, with a Confederate battle flag attached, in front of the store and started yelling racial slurs at a group of black people standing outside. At one point, as people shouted at him to leave, the man pulled out a long knife or machete in a black case, Chembers said.

The 28-year-old man eventually started to pull away in his Explorer, then reversed back toward the crowd, and a young man fired several shots from a handgun, Chembers said. A few moments later, the Explorer stopped on the west side of Birdsell Street, facing south, where the 28-year-old man exited the vehicle, Chembers said.

That's where police found the man and the vehicle, which was impounded as evidence, Trent said, adding that detectives were awaiting a search warrant Friday to look for evidence inside.

Several other witnesses interviewed by the Tribune relayed the same details about the confrontation as Chembers.

Trent acknowledged that bystanders at the scene made similar statements to police about the 28-year-old man displaying a Confederate flag and used racial slurs, but he added that it was unclear which, if any, of those bystanders were eyewitnesses.

Shouldn't the NRA be all over this one passing out cigars? After all the young black men pulled and fired in what partially at least looks like self defense.Seems like SOME white people think it would be an easy gig to do such things, and young ones too seem to be in on it these days as Dylaan Roof also shows.. It may get worse... and it may get uglier. Even the grovesof academe are affected..

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TORCH Points of Unity:

1. We disrupt fascist and far right organizing and activity.

2. We don’t rely on the cops or courts to do our work for us. This
doesn’t mean we never go to court, but the cops uphold white supremacy
and the status quo. They attack us and everyone who resists oppression.
We must rely on ourselves to protect ourselves and stop the fascists.

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